Tea Buying Hiatus Support Group

I’m at 253, but with everything coming my way, I’m pretty sure i’ll be hitting the 300 mark. I don’t feel so bad per say, but it has to stop for a while!!! Too hard too manage over that, been there before.

Soooo… I thought if I put it down in writing and let more people know about it, it will make my hiatus commitment stronger and more serious.

Basically, the hiatus as to stop being on hiatus!

Last order: Dammann Frères, january 18, from Cadeau Vendome.
(Not that it makes a huge difference, but I do hold Sil responsible for that one, lol)

150 from 253 is probably unrealistic, but we need to set tough goals. I set aside about 20 teas from an order last Fall and won’t let myself drink them until I reach 150, but I’m still stuck at nearly 180. Still, I think the goal helps (though Black Friday really hurt).
If you slip, just take a deep breath and promise yourself you’ll do better next time.

Thanks Dr. Jim for the encouragement, I know, your right, 150 is a bold attempt!!
I stopped ordering for six months last spring, maybe I can do the same… But whatever happens, having too much tea is an enjoyable problem :-)

It is a nice problem, but between the books and the tea, my wife is starting to think I am a hoarder. I’ve tried to get people to focus on volume rather than number of types. I currently have 16 pounds of tea in the house. I reckon that is a 10 month supply!

I found the easiest way to keep myself under control with tea (like everything else in my life) is not to put a total ban on buying tea. Because I do good for a little while and then go on an epic binge which just makes things worse. So I set up a few rules. I can buy tea if I need it, or it is one sale, or limited edition, etc., but overall avoid orders. That has helped me to keep on track. I also am finding that if I work on opening only a few teas at a time, drinking them til they are gone before I can open other teas. You get rid of your small samples really quick this way. I wish you all the luck!

It is hard, though. I can feel myself wanting to order from David’s because I never have and so many people are now drinking David’s. It is exciting to see how that company has grown both in terms of location (there are some near me now and two years ago on vacation in Canada I was so excited to go into one of their stores!) and popularity. But I know I have to resist this and all the other now popular names (Butiki!) or the next thing you know I will have no room to walk in my house!

Try to invent ways to make your current supply of tea feel new and exciting. Swaps are a great way to try new tea without spending money (other than postage). Travelling tea boxes are also great; I’m looking forward to an arrival in February, which means I don’t need to buy this month or next (and I have hopes for March). Participate in Sip-down Saturday or have a goal of a certain number of sip-downs every week.

Another idea is what I call “taking inventory”. Starting in mid-December, I’ve been trying to sample a cup of every single tea I own. It’s been lots of fun: I’ve had 167 separate teasto date , and was forced into 12 sip-downs. Every tea that has less than 3 remaining servings is going into a sip-down box; when I finish the inventory, I’m going to attack the box.

teafairy – we can swap anytime! grin I’m sorry i “encouraged” you to pick up tea from cadeaux. ;) I set mini goals for myself each month to help. And place the occasional small order when i know i can drink down the same number of teas before the order gets to me.

Oh no, sil, you know I’m only joking :-) I’ve been waiting a long time to get pomme d’amour and cerise noire plus now this puerh gourmand. Those are teas I already know I’m gonna have on regular basis, plus with the paypal discount I got, it really helped! i’m so happy about this order and should be thanking you instead of making jokes about it :-) Still can’t get passed how reasonable shipping was!

Okay, time for me to post in here. I did two more orders today and that is absolutely the last one until I use some things up! I swear I have about 50 samples of things hanging around and I need to drink all of them up. I wonder if I took the time to put them all in my steepster cupboard and then sipped them down if it would be more motivating, hmm…

My actual collection (everything more than 5 cups) is relatively small compared to some people on here, but I will probably reach 60 teas by the time everything comes in and it’s starting to escape the cabinet. Ack! If I mention another purchase after today, someone virtually slap my hand or something.

LOL I’ll be honest, I don’t have any good advice for you. I’ve been posting on and off on this thread since it started. I haven’t found the right strategy to: try every tea out there while not allowing cupboard to get out of control.IMHO it’s good that you are trying to nip it in the bud while your stash is still at a reasonably number. Trust me when I say, it doesn’t take long to go from 100-300 if you don’t have your credit cards securely locked away. :))

I think if I can I’d like to stay at or under 50. Any more than that and my budget’s going to be a little stretched. I’ll have to remind myself that there are always swaps!
For now I think I’m just settling for “no new orders until the samples are gone,” although that wording may change slightly as time goes on, haha.

Dexter – it’s easy to go from 50-250 without credit card help! just do swaps :)

I put all the tea in my house, into my cupboard so that I know where i’m sitting. It makes it a little more challenging with swaps if ppl want some but it also gives me incentive to get through them because they’re the fastest way to drop my cupboard numbers down :)

Sil – I’m not disagreeing with that. For me personally my cupboard explode 50-250 primarily with credit card help. It is now exploding again 250-350 (? or where ever it lands in the next week or so) primarily with swaps. :))

I too have everything listed in my cupboard – I don’t have fancy spread sheets like the ORGANIZED people on here. I need my Steepster cupboard to help me know what I have.

Finally starting to feel like i’m getting my cupboard under a BIT of control…made it under 150 before the end of February, after missing my December and January goal of getting there, but i’m still on track to keep it that way, even with the couple swaps coming my way.

Also, my oldest tea in my cupboard is now from May 2013 so 10 months old at the worst…making progress on getting to within 8 months of buying.

Check in time.
Approx 60 days ago my cupboard hit an all time high of 358 teas.
Since then I have placed and received 2 orders, received 3 swap/care packages, and received 1 monthly subscription package.
My cupboard is currently showing 290.
Even thought I have received tea, I’ve still managed to lower my number by almost 70 in 60 days. Hoping that trend can continue…..

OMG, Yay!!! You’re finally UNDER 300!!! Crap, looking at my own cupboard you make me realize how much work is ahead of me, lol.
(Oh, oh…does it mean I can now send some delicious teas I’ve been holding on for you???)

Thanks guys, working on gaining control. Currently switching strategy from drinking samples to drinking more of the older teas – need to get some of the old stuff drank down. Goal is to get anything older than 6 months out of the cupboard.TheTeaFairy – LOL most people don’t ask if they can/or if I’m ready for more samples – they just send them (not mentioning any names….) Seriously I LOVE getting teas, and appreciate everything that people send to me. Just remember that the more that’s sent to me means the more that will be returned…. ;))

I also have a serious problem with tea ware. This week I got: a Yixing (which is really really cute and its hard to regret) 2 gaiwans (a regular one and an easy one – sadly this set came with a BUNCH of little cups), yet another double wall glass tea thermos (my fourth) and there is lots of week left to go. That does not include my tea orders – but Mandala has a sort of hypnotic effect on me, I keep putting things in my cart. Maybe if I actually sit down and get all my teas logged and all my tea ware in one place I will shame myself into some rational behavior.

LOL Shame doesn’t seem to work for me – but it couldn’t hurt for you to organize everything so that you are fully aware of what you actually have.
I will never talk anyone out of ordering from Mandala – they are my FAVORITE tea supplier. Having said that, I am still advising that you look to see what you have and then order rationally to fill in any blanks, things you don’t have much of, or pu’erh that actually gets better with age….

Personally I don’t think I have a teaware problem, but I can relate to your “bunch of little cups” situation. One of my Yixing pots came with a pitcher and 10 (? – bunch) of teeny tiny cups. I’ll never use them, but they are cute.
Good luck with your problem, hope you can find a solution that works for you….

Help New uses alert. Yes I’m a new user and need help.
We currently have a successful herbal tea company based in Cornwall and have just branched out and released a Sencha green tea. We are now trying to finalise the packaging for a Black tea Which is a rich mix of un ground Assam and Kenyan Teas but captured in a bag..
We are looking for a name but don’t want breakfast, all day, everyday etc. We don’t want to be too off the wall with the name but any help? Please We are not a big company just a family business taking on the big boys with quality ingredients at a realistic price.
Thanks for any comments.

I need to find a time when my inlaws are out of the house so I can empty out my cupboard and take inventory without getting the stinkeye from my MIL. If I can get everything entered into my Steepster cupboard I’ll have a better idea of what I have and what I need to drink ASAP. I have a feeling there are a lot of flavored teas and greens in my future.

Slowly working my way through my stash. 92 and dropping, from about 112 from a few months back. I slipped up once and made a relatively large Mandala order, and I also restocked some cupboard favourites last week. Other than that, it’s been relatively smooth sailing.

Unfortunately, I also seem to have picked up a coffee drinking habit as well, ever since I got a small manual burr grinder (freshly ground, properly roasted coffee is amazing). It’s slowed down my sipdown progress a bit. Whoops.

oh no! coffee is why I’m here! It becomes an.obsession. The perfect cup on the road is so very hard to find. I broke down in San Antonio because we stayed in the wrong part of town…it was ugly! Be careful my friend. Boiling water in the road is easy. And tea is much more efficient cup by cup.I beseech. you to sell the Burr grinder now!

I love this thread! However, it doesn’t seem to help me too much. I only have about 40 teas and feel that is too many! When I read about people having 200 or more I feel that it is OK to buy more because I don’t have as many as many others. Oh no! That is totally the wrong attitude. ;-P

I have been very good. Hovering. around 20 or so. I don’t have room for more. I would like to say I won’t buy more till I’m.out of the current. stash but I know its not true. Ill just give away what I don’t drink to make room for what I do.

It’s tough to resist. I am retired and spend way too much time thinking about teas. I also have too much time to drive to a couple tea shops when I’m bored. I do have things I do to give me some structure: reading volunteer, working with the blind (I almost wrote “blond” instead of blind) and a regular 3 mile walk with a friend. But there is still too much temptation out there! I am loving the Tea and Card TTB because it gives me a lot of new teas to try with out feeling guilty. :)

Ugh, it’s so hard to beat temptation D: I thought I would be able to maintain 15 – 20 at the most. I reached that number by New Year. But currently, that’s going to be realistic anymore lol, so the number’s gone up to 30. Most of what I just bought is trying new Japanese green teas from different companies.

Before I came across Steepster, I had as many as 40. I was just as bad then heh heh x3

Since dexter posted and update, I figured I could chime in Here since it’s 4 days until the end of the month and I somehow went the entire month without making a purchase! I was on my way to getting way more than my goal accomplished in sipdowns this month, and then some folks decided to explode my cupboard back up past 200, so it’s back to working down to my goal lol. On the upside, it’s kind of like taking sugar out of your diet….it’s much easier to look at orders in moderation now, or pass on things because I can always get some “later” lol we’ll see how long it lasts though lol

Yay!!!! Not buying anything for a month – good job!!!!
I agree, once you break the “binge” ordering, it’s easier to stop and think about it before clicking buy.
You are almost back to 150 – You’ll get there… Even if not for the first, for sure in the first couple of days. :))